Police accused of targeting photographers

The police appear to have learned nothing from their experience at the G20 protest. Their handling of the press during the Tamil demonstration outside parliament has been, at best, clumsy, and at worst, an assault on journalistic freedom.

No wonder the National Union of Journalists has today had cause to criticise the treatment of photographers by police on Monday. Several were reported to have been strong-armed from the area by police as territorial support group (TSG) officers moved in to clear the road.

Photojournalist Marc Vallée said: "I came out of Westminster tube station just before 3pm and within ten minutes I was being forcibly removed by TSG officers.

"I witnessed an agency photographer being brutally grabbed and taken away from the scene. It felt like anyone with a professional looking camera was a target."

The NUJ's general secretary, Jeremy Dear, said: "Press freedom is a central tenet of our democracy but it is being undermined by the failure of senior police officers to change the culture amongst the Met's rank and file."

And NUJ legal officer Roy Mincoff pointed out that the police are ignoring guidelines previously agreed between the Association of Chief Police Officers and the media."

I wrote then that it had the potential to turn newspaper photographers and TV camera operators into lawbreakers, by making it illegal to take pictures or shoot film that feature police, even if in plain clothes.

Though some police are said to dislike the new law, clearly many of them rather enjoy the opportunity to stifle press freedom.